In
bricklaying, the various methods of making a solid wall are called bonding. There are several types of bond commonly used.
Stretcher Bond
Stretcher bond is the simplest type of bonding. It gives a single thickness of bricks, and all bricks are
stretchers, which means that they are orientated with their long side parallel to the wall.
Corners are no problem, as the stretchers from the other wall form closing headers, which interleave with the stretchers on alternating courses. A header is a brick with its long side at 90o to the wall.
+-------+-------+-------+-
|\ \ \ \
+H+-------+-------+-------+-
S\| S | S | S |
+ +---+---+---+---+---+---+-
|\| H | S | S | S
+ +---+---+---+---+---+---+-
\| | | |
+ +---+---+---+---+---+---+-
|\| | | |
+ +---+---+---+---+---+---+-
\| | | |
+ +---+---+---+---+---+---+-
\| | | |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+-
English Bond
English bond uses alternating
courses of headers and stretchers. This is used in a
double thickness wall, the headers giving greater strength and rigidity.
Corners are more complicated than in stretcher bond, as queen closers are used - a queen closer is a half brick that was cut in half along its length.
+---+-+---+---+---+---+---+-
|\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
+ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
H+S\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
+|+ +---+-+---+---+---+---+---+-
|+|\| H |Q| H | H | H | H | H |
+ +H+---+-+-+-+---+-+-+---+-+-+-
+ \| S | S | S |
+|+ +---+-+-+-+---+-+-+---+-+-+-
|+|\| | | | | | | |
+ + +---+-+-+-+---+-+-+---+-+-+-
+ \| | | |
+|+ +---+-+-+-+---+-+-+---+-+-+-
+|\| | | | | | | |
+ +---+-+-+-+---+-+-+---+-+-+-
\| | | |
+---+-+-+-+---+-+-+---+-+-+-
Flemish Bond
An increasingly popular alternative to English bond for double thickness walls is
Flemish bond. Here, headers and stretchers are alternated within each course.
+---+-+-------+---+-------+-
|\ \ \ \ \ \
+ \ \ +-------+ +-------+
H+S\ \ \ \ \ \
+|+ +---+-+-------+---+-------+-
|+|\| H |Q| S | H | S |
+ +H+---+-+-+---+-+---+-+---+-+-
+ \| S | H | S | H |
+|+ +---+-+-+---+-+---+-+---+-+-
|+|\| | | | | |
+ + +---+-+-+---+-+---+-+---+-+-
+ \| | | | |
+|+ +---+-+-+---+-+---+-+---+-+-
+|\| | | | | |
+ +---+-+-+---+-+---+-+---+-+-
\| | | | |
+---+-+-+---+-+---+-+---+-+-
A good way to understand how the various methods of bonding work is to borrow a
Lego set and construct a corner in each type of bond.
Source: Collins complete DIY manual. Jackson & Day